Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Samajwadi Party, CPI and CPI(M), jointly addressed a press conference to highlight the issue of transparency in the election process and protection of voter rights with a call to save democracy.

Opposition parties and Congress, have been Demand to verified with at least 50 per cent voter-verifiable paper audit trail.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister meets Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to raise the issue of EVM malfunctioning. The Supreme Court had directed the Election Commission to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs to five polling booths per assembly segment, from one at present, in the Lok Sabha polls, saying it will provide greater satisfaction not just to political parties but the entire electorate.

BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said that the so-called opposition is already trying to find excuses for impending massive defeat. They have failed to mount a challenge to BJP and not only that they have also failed to work as opposition in the last five years, he added.

The minister slammed them for being unable to speak on the issues concerning the country and that is why people are delivering a massive blow to the negative opposition. He said that their coming together is a confession of sorts of their impending defeat.

An order was pronounced by a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna

The order was passed on a plea of an NGO which challenged the validity of the scheme and sought that either the issuance of electoral bonds stay or names of donors be made public to ensure transparency in the poll process.

In an interim order, the apex court also directed all political parties to provide details of the amount and bank account of donors by May 30 to the poll panel.

.The government had notified the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 on January 2, 2018. As per provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. A person being an individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.

Only political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and which secured not less than one per cent of votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive electoral bonds.

Electoral bonds shall be encashed by an eligible political party only through a bank account with an authorized bank.

The Election commission, found BSP chief Mayawati Violating the model code of conduct. It said prima facie it is of the opinion that the BSP chief has violated provisions of the model code of conduct. It also asked Mayawati to explain her stand regarding her statement within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission also issued a show cause notice to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his alleged remarks while addressing a rally in Meerut on April 9.

Finding him prima facie guilty of violating the Model Code of Conduct, the commission asked him to respond by Friday evening.

The searches, on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions during the poll season, continued yesterday at various premises in Bhopal, Indore, Goa, Delhi and the national capital region.

The department has also traced a trail of 20 crore rupees suspect cash allegedly being moved to the headquarters of a major political party in Delhi from the house of an important person. The Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT statement, however, neither identified the political party nor the senior functionary.

It added that records of collection and disbursement of cash in the form of handwritten diaries, computer files and excel sheets were found and seized and it corroborates the above findings.

The CBDT said several unaccounted and benami properties at posh locations in Delhi have also been detected. It said these instances of violations of the model code of conduct are being brought to the notice of the Election Commission.